If, as seems to be the case – and as millions of responsible Catholics believe – there is more to the Third Secret than the vision released on June 26, 2000 of a “Bishop dressed in White,” with no explanation by Our Lady of Fatima of how it is to be interpreted, then what is contained in the missing part of the Secret? In addition to the published testimony provided elsewhere on this web site (including that of Father Fuentes, Father Alonso, Sister Lucy, Cardinal Ratzinger, etc.), the testimony of the following witnesses also helps to answer this question.

Msgr. Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) (1930’s)

The Secretary of State under Pius XI, Msgr. Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, prior to his elevation to the papacy in 1939 as Pius XII, made the following astonishing prophecy about a coming upheaval in the Church:

Suppose, dear friend, that Communism [one of “the errors of Russia” mentioned in the Message of Fatima] was only the most visible of the instruments of subversion to be used against the Church and the traditions of Divine Revelation … I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past.

A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “Where have they taken Him?”1

Father Joseph Schweigl (September 1952)

In 1952 Father Joseph Schweigl was entrusted by Pope Pius XII with a secret mission to interrogate Sister Lucy about the Third Secret. He subsequently stated:

I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’2

Cardinal Oddi (March 1990)

On March 17, 1990 Cardinal Oddi, who was a personal friend of Pope John XXIII and who had spoken to him regarding the Secret, gave the following testimony to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli in the journal Il Sabato:

It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.3

Cardinal Ciappi

In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, revealed:

In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.4

Father Malachi Martin (Summer 1998)

In a four-hour interview on the Art Bell radio program, Father Malachi Martin stated that in February 1960, while he was secretary to Cardinal Bea (who was one of the close advisors to Pope John XXIII), Father Malachi was given the Third of Fatima to read. Bound by oath not to reveal the Secret, he commented on different versions, which callers quoted to him on the program. He stated that Our Lady’s words were dry and specific. In response to a quotation that a pope would be under the control of satan, he responded, “Yes, it sounds as if they were reading the text of the Third Secret.” He stated that the release of the Secret would provoke strong reactions. He stated that if the Secret were made public, the confessionals and churches would be filled with parishioners on their knees. He also stated that something very relevant to the U.S. is mentioned in the Secret. He stated that the central element of the Secret is awful, and that it concerns apostasy.

Father Jose Valinho (2000 and 2003)

Finally there is Sister Lucy’s nephew, Father Jose dos Santos Valinho. He related his opinion of the contents of the Third Secret in a book by Renzo and Roberto Allegri entitled Reportage su Fatima [Milan 2000], which was published – providentially enough – very shortly before the disclosure of the vision purported to be the Third Secret and the publication of booklet entitled The Message of Fatima by Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Bertone. Father Valinho stated:

I believe that (third) part of the secret concerns the Church from within, perhaps doctrinal difficulties, a crisis of unity, rebellion. The last sentence my aunt wrote, which precedes the part that is still unknown, says, ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’ … Therefore, people elsewhere in the Church might waver on dogma. But this is just speculation.5

On February 14, 2003 Father Valinho also spoke about the Third Secret on the program ENIGMA. It was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the national television network of Italy. Father Valinho stated on this ocassion:

I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means “Here is the third part, which is not revealed” and then the conclusion “In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc.” This suggests to me that there is a relationship between faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.6

4. See Father Gerard Mura, “The Third Secret of Fatima: Has It Been Completely Revealed?”, the periodical Catholic, (published by the Transalpine Redemptorists, Orkney Isles, Scotland, Great Britain) March 2002.

On November 11, 1984, Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave an interview in Jesus magazine, a publication of the Pauline Sisters. The interview is entitled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis,” and was published with the Cardinal’s explicit permission. In this interview, Cardinal Ratzinger revealed that he had read the Third Secret and that the Secret refers to “dangers threatening the faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world.”

Cardinal Ratzinger said in the same interview that the Secret also refers to “the importance of the Novissimi [the Last Times / the Last Things]” and that “If it is not made public, at least for the time being, it is in order to prevent religious prophecy from being mistaken for a quest for the sensational …” The Cardinal further revealed that “the things contained in this ‘Third Secret’ correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions, first of all that of Fatima …”

Keeping watch with Christ seems to be my lot in these early hours of the morning. I always rejoice despite my sleepiness when I hear these words of Night Prayer:

Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace. Lord, give our bodies restful sleep and let the work we have done today bear fruit in eternal life.

The blessing puts all things in perspective:

May the all-powerful Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death. – Amen.